Joanna Newsom
Have One on Me

One of the odder things about Joanna Newsom is her tendency to be compared, by fans and critics, to all manner of mythical forest-dwelling creatures: pixies, elves, sprites, Björk. These comparisons, while not always flattering on the surface, are typically meant as compliments, to underscore the otherworldly, enchanting quality of Newsom’s music. But the Newsom who debuted with The Milk Eyed-Mender was hardly ethereal; in fact, part of that album’s charm was its groundedness. It drew heavily on folk, bluegrass, and Appalachian musical traditions; it was also pretty concise, with nearly all three- and four-minute tracks. Sure, she was already showing signs that she would soon let her Kate Bush freak flag fly, but at the time she was also a little more Loretta Lynn—hell, even a little more Dolly Parton—and a lot easier to like.

Newsom’s follow-up, Ys, found the singer-songwriter squeaking out her dense, heavily allusive lyrics over an hour’s worth of knotty arrangements. Sure, it was ambitious, but it was also defiantly pretentious, a prog monstrosity clad in the simple garb of indie folk. But one listener’s ren-fest hell is another’s enchanted garden: A lot of people loved Ys, and Newsom’s star, not to mention her ego, continued to rise. And whatever aspirations to making capital-A art she has previously evinced, Newsom goes even bigger with her third effort. It’s a two-hour, three-disc affair called Have One on Me (I would have gone with The Audacity of Harp).

The new material is no Ys rehash, but that doesn’t mean that Newsom has matured as a songwriter. First, I’m not sure where maturity enters into the equation when discussing an album that forthrightly indulges every one of its creator’s whims, but (slightly) less polemically, the compositions on Have One remain as ignorant of structure as those on Ys, simply in a different way. Whereas Ys‘s restless arrangements, courtesy of Van Dyke Parks, lacked the unity that solid, compositional ideas provide, Newsom’s new effort is disappointingly static and, as a result, tedious. Coming from someone who sees herself as a storyteller as much as songwriter, its remarkable how little narrative arc develops either within or between songs.

The album’s first long cut, the 11-minute title track, isn’t exemplary of the album; in fact, it’s the most Ys-like here. It certainly can’t be faulted for a lack of dynamism, but its subsections bare little relation to one another: One minute Newsom is cooing coyly over pan pipes, the next she’s shrieking about—maybe to—a daddy longlegs. And even though it eventually comes to an engaging finish by way of a wordless vocal hook, Newsom drags the song out for another minute, patching on an unrelated harp outro. We get a better idea of where the remainder of the album is going by the first disc’s “Good Intentions Paving Company,” an unusually upbeat number that makes inspired use of jazz-styled percussion around the two- and six-minute marks. That seems pretty thin justification for the remaining five minutes, which are comprised of Newsom’s occasionally tonal trilling set to plinking piano keys, but maybe I’m just not attuned to her brand of quirkiness.

That’s how most of Have One plays: moments of inspired performance scattered haphazardly throughout tracks that just don’t feel like they’ve been thought through. There’s a perfectly dramatic drum-and-vocal break that shoots some much needed melodrama into the otherwise doldrums “In California,” but you’ll have to wait over seven minutes for it. And Newsom’s clearly aiming for some kind of emotional climax about halfway into the eight-minute “Go Long,” so why the excess of aimless mandolin strumming on either end? These tracks, and the many others like them (“Autumn” and “Kingfisher” being the most egregious examples from the third disc), prompt the question of why Newsom can’t be bothered to pare down on all the bloated extras and get to the good part. And the only answers I can think of have to do with Newsom subscribing to some nastily self-important notions of how grateful and attentive her audiences should be; or else that she’s just guessing her way through without aspiring to any kind of structural coherence whatsoever.

That may sound harsh, but invested as she is in her dense libretto, it’s not unreasonable to think that many of Newsom’s songs develop as vehicles for her lyrics. Newsom’s recurring motifs (nature imagery, fables, forests) and her favored topics (hard relationships, broken hearts) all get their due. Too often, though, Newsom aims at spinning some timeless fables of her own, and ends up sounding more precious than wise. On “‘81” she beckons her listener to “Meet me in the Garden of Eden/Bring a friend/Were going to have a time/We’re going to have a garden party.” When she delivers these sorts of lines with her voice set to its most gurgling, girlish register, the results are noxiously cloying. Then there are the abundance of lines that are just too bizarre to take seriously at all, like the reference in “Jackrabbits” to a time when Newsom “scrabbled at your chest like a mute/With my fists of ham.” Or the one about the daddy longlegs.

Though she’s clearly happiest when engaged in the convoluted play of strange symbols, Newsom fares much better when she sticks to simpler matters. “Esme” contains more straightforward declaratives than any other song on the album, its powerful, culminating verse beginning with “I believe love will always surround you.” Musically, though, it’s another long, static, acoustic ballad, the kind you’ll have had plenty of by that late in the album. “Baby Birch,” the first disc’s closer, does make some inspired use of Newsom’s nature imagery, but its best moments happen to be the most direct. When Newsom sings, in as unaffected a voice as she’s liable to use, “How are you?/Your eyes are green, your hair is gold/Your hair is black, your eyes are blue,” she’s channeling such a powerful register of regret that even a skeptic like myself will take notice. “Baby Birch” is one of maybe two or three of the lengthier tracks that actually justifies its runtime, as Newsom makes use of her broad canvass to fold in some discordant guitar and, eventually, a genuinely propulsive percussive break. It helps that just as that wave of noise is cresting, Newsom continually accelerates her vocal delivery. It’s far and away the most exciting moment on the record, but it arrives by an artful use of those two pop music staples, melodrama and dynamism, that Newsom so often forbids herself.

What’s apparent in her disavowal of those elements, from which pop music derives so much of its simple pleasure, is that Newsom wants Have One to be heard as a serious piece of art. But if she transcends the confines of pop music, it’s ultimately only in the scope of her ambitions. Compared to any of the serious work being done by modern composers of whatever inclination, Newsom’s frequently static, unstructured wanderings would reveal themselves as alarmingly inadequate. The end result is a strange, and strangely pretentious mess: an album pitted deep in the psychic world of stories that nonetheless can’t figure out when it should begin, when it should end, or which parts are even worth the audience’s attention.

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Reading this review a year later it looks more than ever that he already had his opinion about the album and Joanna Newsom formed before he even gave Have One on Me a chance. This album is still a hell of a record, the review not so much. Even PopMatters rated as a top 2o of the year after they gave a 4/10. Maybe he's right: one listener ren - fest hell is another's enchanted garden. And in Newsom's case it was a hell of a garden to lots of other people.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-03-29 06:35:45

Criticism is about taking a stand on a piece of art and defending it, not forging a 100% cohesive opinion on it with all other critics. Which in my opinion is the problem of people getting so hyped on Metacritic as though every 'good' album has to have mostly positive reviews and every 'bad' album has to have universally negative ones, when the point of writing a review in the first place is to express one's individual take on an album. Matthew makes a good argument for his point of view, so who cares if you agree? Write your own review elsewhere then.

Posted by Anonymous on 2010-12-21 10:50:59

Honestly? Carrie you sound crazy. Sorry girl. I admire your passion for Newsom., the way you defend her, but you are sounded way out of sense and crazy.

Have One on Me is my album of the year. Joanna steps forward, and i thought that was impossible after an album like Ys. Loved the move towards Jazz in some of the tracks. I love this album. Every track. Newsom continues her winning streak. She remains a solid and incredible lyricist, in no way the lyrics are less interesting than Ys. The way Joanna tells the story of Lola Montez on the title - track or the mysticism of Go Long. This album is not as immediate as Ys, and it\'s not only because of the length. In a track like Sawdust and Diamonds Newsom sounded like she was going to have a breakdown, and i was having one while i was listening. Ys stirs. Have One on Me is not Ys, and it doesn\'t have any moment like that, so why and how it stands in comparison to Ys ? These moments not only exist on this album, but they are also stronger...sonically.

Newsom\'s production is much less dense than in Ys, but you don\'t think that Have One on Me is all about joy. Baby Birch, Kingfisher, In California are 3 of the many songs that make you hold your breathe, that Newsom slowly builds momentums and peaks. How Baby Birch starts with a small harp not, and by the end of the same song: handclaps, guitars, drums, Newsom\'s delivery: her vocals, the harp playing the words. Moments like this exists in Have One on Me, and they are constantly appearing. Even tracks accompanied only by Newsom and her harp (Jackrabbits and Esme) have the same emotional power of the big ones like (Good Intentions Paving Company, Kingfisher). Even small songs like \"On A Good Day\" have its charms and can\'t be cut off. The most touching moment of the album? It\'s hard to pick only one, but the one that most come close of make me have a breakdown is \"Autumn\", the jazzy post - Hissing of Summer Lawns, the strings and again her delivery are touching. Sure there are fun moments, when Newsom lets it go like in Good intentions or Soft As Chalk she shines. These two piano tracks are in contrast to the other 3 others played on the piano: Easy, Occident and the emotional Does Not Suffice (we just keep waiting for Newsom to do deliver the In California refrain, and when she does, wow!). Newsom knows how to build a song. She builded 12 strong back in 2004, she builded 5 even more stronger on the fully formed Ys. She delivered the terrific Colleen last time around, and this time she delivers 18 songs that are not only strong tracks seeing the album as a whole, but each one of them could have been named highlights. To this record is gold. I\' not going to go Carrie and start trashing other artists or citing metacritic to make my opinion or this album stronger. Bat For Lashes did release a great album last year, Two Suns was amazing, Sal Cinquemani liked a lot and that album has an irresistible appeal and it gives you reasons to like.

Like i said before i admire Carrie defending her cause she loves Newsom A LOT, but she is crossing the line between expressing and imposing your opinion. She is too towards the latter. As a fan myself it\'s normal to feel disappointed about an artist\'s work or after a while see his or her album grows on me and i warming it. It\'s normal. As a Newsom fan is unusual to see her receive negative reviews, i came to this website because of this one. I don\'t agree with them, but i need to have the knowledge that they exist and people agree with them. So why make yourself look like a crazy and make fights? I\'m no taking about this review, but the PopMatters review has 119 comments cause the reviewer awarded the album a 4 out of 10. Although we have the universal positive reviews to show to people that Joanna Newsom is great and her new album is awesome, that won\'t change anyone\'s opinions. We will only be making fools of ourselves doing this. Let\'s appreciate or not the album for what it is. This is my album of the year. Slant is awesome, is a huge website, at least to my friends and I, it has a lot of great reviewers, maybe by the end of the year, they make a retrospective and someone like this album and this one might even find its way to Slant\'s end of the year list. But if it won\'t, it won\'t matter. That shouldn\'t change my opinion at all, and not because others will include this album. I just wish the Slant crew, by the end of the year, remember of this record for what it was, not because of its comments section.

Posted by Anonymous on 2010-04-04 12:41:34

Sorry about a few mistakes:

*Sorry Gilla, I might sound like a press release, but look I was the one at the beginning of all this that said it grows badly.

*What you described it before, it looked like you wanted a Ys part 2.

*The critically acclaim of Ys, Mender and this one only re - affirms the greatness of these albums.

Oh, and i saw your comment at the \"Remember Me\" review, well...i\'m not the only one to get mad when i disagree with a Slant review. And if you like Joanna since Mender like i do, you\'d know that the mystical stuff only came after Ys. Mender songs were simple in everything, except the words. Only in Ys she started to amazingly break the boundaries. The songs were complex but they never hid anything: \"Emily\" about her family, especially sister, \"Cosmia\" about the death of a friend of hers and even others like Only Skin and Sawdust & Diamonds about relationships. Joanna made everything more accessible this time around, nothing dense like Ys. Like she said, she wanted to make a record about home and this is it. Autumn, In California are two songs that show that. Easy, Go Long and Kingfisher sound like lost pieces of Ys, but they really belong in this record. Have One On Me is a masterpiece. I\'m not a crazy fan - boy. I just know how to listen to music. I can\'t listen to something having tremendously high expectations, or hoping for something, or waiting something cause that is not how the game is played. The artist decides, not me. I only decide if i will follow or not. I\'d hate the new Erykah Badu album if i got there with Part 1 in my head. I need to listen to this, like this was her debut album. She\'s coming out of nowhere. After i listen for a while, i start to compare and then i can express my opinion. Everything is a grower, some just grow earlier than others. I have countless artists that i would never meet their greatness if i delete them after listening for 2 times. I gave them time, it took a year so i could digest Tori Amos\'s Boys For Pele and Captain Beefheart \'s Trout Mask Replica. Not saying to the reader that this will happen to him after listen to this album. But if you listen to it 3 times, and you feel that your opinion changed for the first time, than keep doing that until you feel like you stop. It sounds crazy, weird, but you have to have patience and thank God i have a lot!

You were the one coming out of the nowhere saying that it wasn\'t as interesting as Ys. That says a lot about how you listen to this, with Ys stamped all over your mind. I can\'t listen to Joni\'s Court & Spark thinking about Blue, they\'re too different. And Have One On Me and Ys only shares the same singer and an harp, with the exception of that they\'re too different. Have One On Me is fully formed and its own thing. After you believe you tried and its fully grown, even if you didn\'t like that much, and you compare to the previous ones. You realized that. And it\'s not saying stuff like \"9 minute fairy tale\" or not \"as interesting as Ys\", cause it\'s not \"Ys\" that will make you get there. And i read all the negative reviews about this one they only talk about one thing: length. It\'s their work to listen to music, doesn\'t matter if it runs for 5h. And you kinda agree with me on this, you said that in the \"Remember Me\" review in this very same website. And you talk so badly about me, and how i and critics try to look cool cause other critics are calling an \"instant masterpiece\" and we agree with them cause of that. Stop the cheap talking. I have read 65 reviews for this album (MC only collected 34 in comparison). this and other 3 are the only negative ones. You, my dear, it\'s the one who is trying to justify your deception towards this album when everyone else seems to enjoy it. And we will until the end of the year. I don\'t believe in \"hype\". \"Hype\" is a word created by people who don;t agree with music critics or just can\'t see the greatness of an album, sometimes cause it\'s not their cup of tea other times cause it\'s a disappointment to them. If you were on our side, people who are loving this record, you would without a shadow of a doubt not agree with what you said before. You are the one trying to impose \"your opinions\". It\'s sad cause everything you talk about is justified by subjectivism, you were the one who didn\'t like it. it\'s your subjective opinion. The objective opinion of all of this is that \"Have One On Me is Joanna Newsom third consecutive masterpiece, hailed by music critics as one of the earlier locks and classics of the new decade. A sure shot to appear in a good amount of End of the Year lists. The album received more than 20 perfect scores reviews. 61 positives, against 4 negatives. It holds a 85 metascore at metacritic and 87 at Any decent music.\" This is the objective overall opinion of this album. And it won\'t change cause you don\'t like it.

Posted by Anonymous on 2010-04-04 12:02:37

Sorry Gilla, I might sound like a press release, but look I was the one at the beginning of all this that it grows badly. You\'re the precipitated one who is saying that it is warm it up now. Look i listened to this album since it leaked, for like 3 days, i didn\'t compare this to Ys or Mender, i took it as it was. It became my album of the year. You basically got there waiting for something and you didn\'t find it. As you described it before, it looked like Ys part 2. This album isn\'t a let down in anything, i listened before all the 5 stars review come out, i was already predicting music critics rating it 2 stars and 3 cause they would think it\'s too long, especially Rolling Stone. It\'s not my fault if critics saw what i saw it. The critically acclaim that Ys, Mender and this one only re - affirms the greatness of these albums.

Posted by Anonymous on 2010-04-04 09:45:31

I really shouldn\'t engage overeager fans like you, Carrie. Ones who only reads positive reviews, immediately discards ones that don\'t share your opinion, uses reviews from \"hip\" music review sites and aggregate scores from Metacritic to make the case that one opinion, your opinion of an album, is gospel. Would you even admit that this album, no matter what it sounded like, might be not that great? That it\'s disappointing no matter how much you liked Joanna\'s music? That maybe the critics praising it up the ass are buying into the hype, or want to look \"with it\" by calling it an instant masterpiece? Because Joanna Newsom\'s last album was so wonderful? A lot of 100% ratings and making a lot of year - end lists proves little about an album\'s quality.

And c\'mon, \"you\'re just mad this isn\'t Ys pt.2, that\'s why you don\'t like it\"?! I never said that and it\'s a straw - man argument. I love Ys and this album is no Ys, even if I have considerably warmed up to this it (which I have, much to my surprise). I love Ys because it\'s powerful, because it makes me bawl like a baby, because the poetry is so wonderful. I only ask of this album that it make me feel much the same. It hasn\'t so far, so I regard it as a much lesser album than Ys. I don\'t want Ys part two, I don\'t mind changes in style or progression in musical style (the more jazzy \"Good Intentions..\" and \"Soft as Chalk\" are probably my favorite tracks here), so please, enough with the \"it\'s just you, and your personal feelings!\" insults.

Oh, and every comment you make sounds like a press release for the artist. Just sayin\'.

Posted by Anonymous on 2010-04-01 18:32:28

Sorry \"Gila\", but Joanna Newsom never was the kind of girl that talked about religion. She always talked about the stuff she talks on Have One On Me, if you want religion check out Tori Amos\'s Abnormally Attracted to Sin. And many of your comments are unbiased. Some of the songs are more straightforward and less dense than Ys, but the mythology is not gone. No Provenance and Go Long are two examples, especially the latter. Even songs like Sawdust and Diamonds and Only Skin are about relationships. When she tells the tale about two thieves in You & Me, Bess; the story of Lola Montez in Have One On Me and abortion in Baby Birch, she is \"building her own mythologies from scratch\". Thank God she didn\'t make a Ys - Part Two. This is a step forward. Kingfisher and all its glory: harp, harpsichord, strings, the song Bat For Lashes wish she made. The step towards jazz is amazing. The songs are more accessible, her voice has grown. What you guys are doing now is kinda like saying that Joni Mitchell made a mistake recording \"Court & Spark\", cause it wasn\'t as naked as Blue. Good Intentions Paving Company, Soft As Chalk, You & Me Bess, to name a few examples. Songs like the title track and all the instrumentation and harmonies. And this album connects emotionally in a way none of her others have before. In California, Jackrabbits, Kingfisher, Does Not Suffice, Baby Birch, Go Long, Occident, and all the others. Even On A Good Day is short and sweet and indispensable. Like The White Album, there are tracks that are weaker than others, but as a whole they could not be taken off. This is to folk music what Sandinista! as to punk rock, and i\'m not the only one to think or say that. And yes, although Metacritic is in no way the best way to say the music is great, it is one of the set - in - stone last say about an album. This album\'s metascore, is so far the highest of the year based in more than 20 reviews (so far 31), even this review is counting, so i guess there\'s a reason why this has a 85 metascore, and why even other reviews that they doesn\'t count gave this 4 and 5 stars. This is the album of the year, so far. I didn\'t get it why Slant was licking Bat For Lashes\'s balls last year, and dismissed this this way. It is the same rating that they gave to Lady Antewhatever and is even lower than Lady GaGa\'s the Fame and Taylor Swift\'s Fearless. Sorry, i\'m not saying that everyone should love this and it is a 4 out of 5, but his is not 2 stars material. By the End Of The Year they even might recognize that, they did that to Kanye\'s 808s and Heartbreak and suddenly it was there inside their top 25 of the year. Even better they didn\'t like Erykah Badu\'s Worldwide Underground, and then there it was: inside their favorite of the decade (BTW Hope Slant likes the new Erykah Badu record and Laura Marling\'s too, they sound good, at least what i have heard.). And it is totally understandable Slant is composed by a lot of music critics, so it\'s not cause this one didn\'t like it, that it means everyone hated it. The same way that because i liked it, it means everyone will. But who knows? PopMatters called Neko Case a Pin Up girl last year, gave her album a 5 out of 10, and later it became their 6th favorite album of 2009. So Who Knows? What it matters is that to me this is a work of a genius, her third in a row, and there\'s not a singer/songwriter working today like her. Is she our Joni Mitchell? Laura Nyro? Rickie Lee Jones? Kate Bush? Tori Amos? PJ Harvey? or even Slant\'s beloved Bjork? I don\'t know, but with this album she accomplished the impossible, she is right there with them, she might not be at the top of the charts, but she\'s the best to come out last decade and her work is only getting better on this one!

Posted by Anonymous on 2010-03-20 06:14:49

This album cannot possibly be a 2/5 anywhere? Since when is the \"objective\" opinion of Have One On Me that it must be better than a 4/10 score? The idea that it is \"objectively\" at least a 4/5 is just as subjective as the original reviewer\'s opinion. And no, a Metacritic score is not the set - in - stone last say about an album.

Another (subjective) take: I wish I loved Have One On Me more. I wish it was better. I want \"Sawdust and Diamonds\" played at my funeral. There\'s something reigned in, too bound - to - earth about this album. The whimsical touches, the lyrics that delved into concepts like spirituality, faith and mythology, they\'re all of a sudden gone. On Ys and Milk - Eyed Mender, Joanna would spin these dense, complex tales that had an otherworldly quality to them, like she was building her own mythologies from scratch. Have One on Me sticks to subject matter that is familiar to the songwriter - songs that are mostly about relationships with friends or boyfriends, traveling, etc. The \"escape\" element is missing. The mythology is missing. I hope this is just a phase and these elements that made Joanna\'s first two albums so memorable haven\'t been dropped completely. There are some lovely songs here like \"Esme\" and \"Have One on Me\". It\'s impossible to dismiss this record, and I won\'t. I just wish it was better.

Posted by Anonymous on 2010-03-08 00:59:34

I agree with seants! This album is amazing! The best of the year, better than Teen Dream, Four Tet, These New Puritans, any album rated 4.5 stars by Slant released this year. The reviewer was criticizing her for not doing The Milk - Eyed Mender - The Return or Ys - Redux. This album is terrific. It sounds like its own thing, it\'s fully formed. She is arguably the best female singer/songwriter to come out last decade. It\'s not Regina Spektor, not Bat For Lashes or St. Vincent. This girl is magical. Joanna is going towards Jazz on this album, and i loved it. Her melodies, the songwriting are more clear, although still mysterious and unique, just like the first time around.

This album is far from being a 2 out of 5, this is at least a 4. Go see the other reviews this album has received, with the exception of this one and a PopMatters one, this album has received only positive reviews, and many 5 stars. Nothing against the reviewer, but i believe that if he\'s a fan or know Joanna\'s work, he should have known that this album wasn\'t a Milk - Eyed Mender and that Newsom changed in 4 years.

No critic compared Joanna to Bjork (only a Rolling Stone reviewer while reviewing Ys). I guess Slant is a little too Bjork - ish please, Vespertine is great and a top 50 of the decade but it is not #3. Medulla, Volta and Voltaic have been big disappointments in comparison not only to that album, but previous ones. Critics compare Joanna to Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, Laura Nyro. And she is the greatest singer/songwriter to appear since PJ Harvey, and with the exception of her since the first three i mentioned (And yes i\'m counting Tori Amos). She\'s original in everything. The voice, the instruments, the songwriting. I guess that Sal Cinquemani would like Have One On Me. I guess that Jonathan keefe would like it too. I hope someone on Slant likes it and express this over here. This reviewer was quick enough to give 5 stars to Four Tet and 2 to this album. Sorry, this is not a 2, not here not in China. The first two discs alone are enough to make this rating rise to 3.5, in case you hate the disc number 3. I loved them all, it\'s a 5 stars to me, and it is a grower and it takes time to grow, so maybe if review it i would give something around a 4 and a 4.5, cause although a review is subjective it needs to be objective too.

Posted by Anonymous on 2010-03-07 09:06:52

To those who have endured reading the review, please trust me on this: the album may be two hours long, but the time flies quickly, much quicker than it did while you were reading this totally off - base stab at Joanna Newsom.

Two out of five stars? You\'ve got to be kidding me! I\'d love to take the time to see what albums from this year that this critic actually liked.

First, he criticizes her when he questions her musical maturity, given that she has released a lot of material in a single release, and explored a wide variety of styles, ideas, and themes. Since when is it immature to explore one\'s every whim, especially when it comes to music? Musicians exploring their whims is exactly what good, innovative music is all about. As if she would have been a more mature artist had she followed convention and released an album with 10 or 11 songs. What a ridiculous argument.

And, secondly . . . wait, why did you continue reading the review after that part? Just put on the album, sit back, and think about how lucky you are to have good taste, and that you didn\'t miss out on the best album of the year. I mean, the year\'s hardly begun, but even if God releases God\'s Greatest Hits later this year, it\'s not going to top this.

Posted by Anonymous on 2010-03-06 22:39:13

I never got into Milk - Eyed Mender, but Ys and Joanna\'s subsequent EP are among my all - time favourites. This album has been the highlight of my year so far. It'll take time to know for sure, but I reckon it's up there with Ys. None of my friends share my enthusiasm, which is one of the reasons I've been reading reviews of it online - just to hear what others think of it.

Though Matthew Cole clearly dislikes the album, I think his review is intelligently written; I even liked his Audacity of Harp joke. Most people actively dislike this music, so it's OK for the occasional reviewer to reflect the wider views of the general public.

I also think he's wrong, of course, but then I would. Yes, the album is sprawling, but that's one of the things I like about it - it take time to digest. This same quality also makes the reviewer's task almost impossible. If an album takes months to get to love, how do you review it in a week?

Fortunately, it's not my problem. I won't be listening to any other music for the next couple of months.

Posted by Anonymous on 2010-03-04 01:38:58

Just a little background, folks: There are a couple of Slant writers who \"like\" Joanna Newsom, but they\'re not currently contributing to the site. But honestly, I think that\'s completely irrelevant. As long as a writer is well versed in an artist\'s chosen genre (which Matthew clearly is) and doesn\'t have a personal grudge against an artist (and Matthew doesn\'t, as he seems to like her first album and is simply unimpressed by her current direction/style), he or she is perfectly qualified to write about an album. That is, always has been, and will continue to be the criteria we use to assign reviews. One could argue it\'s inappropriate to assign a review to someone who loves an artist, and that criticism, in fact, has been leveled at us in the past as well. But I\'ve always maintained that criticism is completely subjective, and it should be. And based on the length and depth of this piece, the assertion that Matthew spent absolutely no time with the album is just silly.

Posted by Eric Henderson on 2010-03-03 20:49:22

It honestly BOTHERS me that this album was reviewed by somebody who reads like he spent absolutely no time with the album and who obviously can\'t stand her. Highly biased and unfair, indeed. Excellent initial observation, Gila.

Posted by Anonymous on 2010-03-03 20:25:51

\"but maybe I\'m just not attuned to her brand of quirkiness.\"

This might be the best summary of the review. I can\'t help but feel it\'s unfair to assign a writer who doesn\'t seem to very much enjoy Newsom\'s voice, stories, or quirks to review a 2 - hour long, triple LP of hers.

A little context: I have been raving about Joanna Newsom\'s genius to friends or anybody who would listen since 2004. I would take Ys to a desert island with me - I couldn\'t live without it. Yes, Have One on Me is a crushing disappointment for me, but there are some poor oversights and misrepresentations of the songs on this album contained in this review. Unrelated harp outro on the title track? Unrelated story arcs contained in the song? It is about the life of Lola Montez, the harp intro and outro representing the bookends of her life - childhood and death, and the entire song tracing the events of her life. I know most music listeners don\'t want to take the effort and bother reading along to the song with the lyrics or even listen closely enough to understand the narrative she is building, especially a critic who finds Newsom\'s music to be self - indulgent wank, but of course it\'s going to come off as unrelated nonsense if you don\'t take enough time with the album.

Besides that point, though, is that Matthew is very right on at least one thing in this review - the stories on Have One on Me aren\'t half as interesting, insightful, hypnotic, or beautiful as they were on Ys or Milk - Eyed Mender. Very few of these songs go beyond Newsom describing some convoluted fairy tale for 9 minutes. 3/4s of these songs are taxing and boring. And it disappoints me greatly.

Posted by Anonymous on 2010-03-03 14:39:21

This album is amazing. It grows on you badly. I really loved it. All the discs, it\'s really good. Sad Slant didn\'t like it, there\'s hope, maybe another reviewer that works in Slant likes it! It\'s my favorite album of the year, better than the Four Tet and Teen Dream, i liked these too, but wow Joanna made a terrific triple effort. Her own Sandinista! or Tusk, born to divid critics and become a classic years later!